Things that are and have never been

Posted on Mon Oct 19th, 2020 @ 5:22am by Lieutenant JG Miraj Derani

Mission: SEASON 4: Episode 1: Know Thy Self!
Location: The Serpents Tooth, on the border of the Terran Empire
Timeline: MD05 2000
1267 words - 2.5 OF Standard Post Measure

[ON]


Miraj was fussing. She knew she was fussing, but this was a moment she'd thought about, fantasied over, for more than ten years.

Her mother.

Okay, technically not her mother. Not the woman who'd carried her and given birth to her, and then left her in basket in the famous Quark's Bar.

She'd gone through her wardrobe. She'd rejected the orange babydoll dress with sky blue peter pan collar and matching mary janes, and the sailor suit, even though it was a lovely lime green. Nothing seemed right. Not even her uniform. It seemed to formal. Would it be seen as rejecting her. Lianej had reached out, had invited her to the Serpents Tooth.

She started thumbing through her options again. But nothing appealed. It was going to be the uniform. She got herself a fresh one from the replicator, brushed out her bunches and retied them before leaving for the transporter room, where she was beamed over to the pirate ship.

When she rematerialised on the other ship, its captain was waiting for her. She looked at the Boslic woman, taller than her, her long violet hair swept up. She looked everything Miraj knew she wasn't. Elegant, sophisticated, beautiful. Lianej was wearing black pants with a silver top, and looked comfortable, poised. A captain comfortable in her own domain.

"hi." Miraj said, not really knowing what else to say.

"Welcome Aboard. Thank you for coming. Would you like to tour the Serpents TOoth?"

Miraj nodded eagerly, "Yes Please."

"Alright. Come with me."

Their first stop was the boarding gallery. There was still dust and shavings from the action against the ISS Elysium still on the floor. Miraj marvelled at the huge drills. She'd read about them, used to deadly effect on her mother's victims back home, to capture and subdue vessels. Turned on the ISS Elysium, they'd been their salvation.

"So..." Lianej began as they started to walk back towards the shuttle bay. "Whats it like to serve the Terrans on your side. I mean the Federation."

"Its cool. I didn't think I was going to make it, I've got the lowest passing grade in history I think. But I get to fly a ship with a Slipstream drive, so it all worked out."

"You like to fly?" Lianej smiled.

Miraj nodded. "Like I need to breathe. I've done it all my life. I'm good at it too. Broke all the Academy records, and a few general ones. I'm going to be the youngest test pilot in Starfleet history too, once I've got my hours at the conn. Two years, maybe a bit more."

Lianej felt her heart twist. That swagger was very familiar. "You want to fly half designed, partially built deathtraps?"

Miraj nodded again. "Its how I learnt to fly in the first place. Should be easy."

They arrived at the shuttlebay. "I dont keep many jollyboats," Lianej explained. "We pick things up, so its a mixed bag."

But Miraj wasn't listening. She was staring at one of the shuttles. The waverider had a different paint job, but she'd know the adaptations to the ship, primarily the addition of nacelles, and the souped up inertial dampener field points. "Queen Anne?"

"What?" Lianej asked? "You mean the waverider? No, that's the Stranger Tides."

"Stranger Tides?" Miraj squeaked. She knew a ship called the Stranger Tides. It was a lot bigger, a Kaplan G24 freighter. She looked at Lianej. "Have you ever met a man called Malcolm Garrison?"

"Why do you ask?" Lianej had a sudden instinct to be cautious. "Do you know him in your reality?"

"He's my brother, my half brother."

LIanej felt a little queasy. "So that would make your father...?" Oh tides and tempests let her instincts be wrong. The man was vile filth who needed a slow death.

"William Garrison."

"Ah." Lianej looked out over the shuttle bay, "That would explain why I don't know you. I only ever met him briefly." Should she tell the girl the truth of her father in this place? No.

"And Mal?"

She looked so hopeful, that LIanej couldn't say no, and reached for her combadge. "Mal, would you come to the shuttle bay."

"He's here?" Miraj was beaming. What would her brother be like? Would he even feel like her brother? "I knew it! In my reality, he gave me that ship for my birthday a few years ago. He and his crew did the adaptions. I've flown it all over the place."

"What's he like, your Mal?" Lianej asked.

Miraj shrugged, "He's... Mal," she started. "He's my brother, so he's incredibly annoying, he vanishes with his crew on jobs for weeks at a time, and when he does comeback and spends time with me, then women are always coming up to him for dates and stuff. Its annoying. But he loves me."

"Girl magnet huh? That sounds like him." Lianej laughed. "He's a bit tamer here. Never joined your Starfleet?"

"No. He has a bit of a problem with authority."

"Well, that's not changed. Does he and y our father get on?"

Miraj frowned. Why would that be an iisue. "They get on fine. I mean, growing up it was just us and him. Mal's mum left them."

Lianej smiled. It was good to know that he seemed to have something of the life he dreamed of. Sh leant against another of her shuttles, a stolen Terran runabout. "And what about me? What am I like?"

Miraj looked away, staring at the floor. "I don't know. You left me at Deep Space Nine when I was six weeks old. I've never met you."

And now Lianej understood why the girl in front of her had been so keen to meet, had seemed so devastated that Lianej hadn't recognised her. She'd been hoping for a happy ending on this side of reality. Poor kid must have been truly desperate to hope for happiness in this shit-show. "Well, i'm sure I've regretted that decision every day since." She couldn't imagine giving up a child, it was why she'd never had them. The Serpents Tooth was no place for a baby. "So, what do I do? long haul space freight? command a pleasure cruiser taking fat tourists around Betazed?"

Lianej's words, warmed Miraj's soul, if this Lianej could feel that way, maybe her real mother did to. "No. You're a pirate there too.. Or, you were. No ones seen The Serpents Tooth in ten years. You just vanished."

And another piece fell into place. "oh you poor thing." She must be so lonely. She swept Miraj up in her arms and held her. held the child she never had. She had to blink her eyes suddenly, keep back the threatened tears.

Miraj held tight to the woman, and pretended, just for a moment, that it was her real mother. "Thank you,"

"For what its worth. I always wanted children." Lianej said, stepping back.

"Instead," Mal Garrison said, appearing around the end of the waverider, " you got me." He pressed close to Lianej, and kissed her with gusto.

Miraj was stunned. Shocked. Speechless. Her brother was unmistakable. Stupidly handsome with his stupid muscles and his stupid stubble and his stupid hair was even longer. But he was also tongue kissing with her mother! Her mother! with tongues!

Lanej pushed him away quickly, but not quick enough. She stared at Miraj's shocked face. "Mal, this is my daughter, Miraj. Her father is your father."

It was Mal's turn to look shocked, and slightly horrified. "Lets head to the mess. I think you both need a drink. "

[OFF]